Geese Are Always Trophies

By Kyle Wintersteen, Contributing Writer

The half dozen geese crested the oaks and slammed on the brakes, the drag of their primary feathers audibly slicing the crisp January air. So unexpected was their arrival that a few friends and I had but a meager spread of mallards arranged on the narrow, spring-fed Pennsylvania slough. But the geese—big, local Canadas exceedingly long in the wing—were coming anyway. They made a single pass with nary a honk and promptly landed 30 yards to our right before thumbs could reach safeties. My friend Jake Kraybill had never shot a goose and, as the birds had conveniently landed off his end, we encouraged him to shoot one. He decided to indulge us.

With a simple, “Hey geese!” Jake flushed the birds and dumped one.

Now, I’ve seen singles and the occasional pair of geese do dumb things, but none of us foresaw the next event: Rather than taking any number of easy escape routes, the five remaining birds turned and flew directly to our guns. No time to switch loads. We opened up on them at close range with Nos. 2 and 4, and soon we’d felled the lot of them. There was no hooting and hollering, as television hosts seem intent on convincing us is appropriate. For a moment all was silent. Smiles and a few chuckles ensued. We couldn’t believe our good fortune.

I’ve rarely just lucked into geese in that fashion, and even less commonly seen them act with such irrational panic. They are intelligent birds, far smarter than ducks and, I believe, at least equal in wits to the wild turkey—could a wary gobbler spot movement as well as a goose if it had to do so while circling a spread?

Geese, in general, require great effort to kill with consistency. It sounds simple: Find where they eat; find where they sleep; put out some decoys. But “feed” and “roost” sites are ever-changing, and there’s no substitute for hunters who know how to follow the birds and have the courage to knock on farmers’ doors. The best goose hunters are as good with a handshake as a short-reed call.

These days it seems more geese are shot over grain fields than anything else. Agriculture has helped fuel booming resident populations and tends toward more consistent, higher-volume shooting. But there’s something about hunting geese over water I more enjoy. In part because crops are a man-made habitat, but it also owes to the satisfying smack of a goose meeting water—a sound that convinces the soul that surely this is how God intended geese to be shot.

More often than not, geese confound me even when success seems imminent. So, I regard every goose taken within ethical bounds as a trophy, even those that perhaps should’ve gotten away. Such was the case on that cold morning when Jake shot his first goose. Per our tradition, he was required to haul all six birds out of the marsh. He loaded them into an under-sized duck strap, draped it over the back of his neck and began the long waddle. Never has a hunter smiled more proudly while weighted down by 70 pounds of Canada goose.

How to Put Down A Black Bear

Broadside:

Most hunters are used to aiming behind the shoulder on deer for a double-lung shot. This works on bears, too; you can aim right behind the top of the shoulder and nearly halfway up the side. Better yet, break one or both shoulders. A bullet that busts bone and bursts lungs is the best way to anchor a bear. Bullet and bone fragments should damage the lungs and maybe even the heart. If you accidentally hit high you should still sever the bear's spine.

Going-Away:

Take this shot only on a wounded bear that needs to be anchored. Your target is the top of the tail, not below it, so nervous and skeletal systems are hit. You want to split the pelvis and take out the back legs so a finishing shot can be taken.

Charging:

Try to brain a charging bear. From the front, your target is just above a line that would join the top of the eyes. If possible, wait till the head points down or at a 90-degree angle to the bullet path. Keep shooting until it is down, as an adrenaline-charged bruin can be hard to stop.

Quartering-On:

If it's facing you, aim just below the jaw to drive the bullet through the neck and chest. If it's quartering toward you, aim for the shoulder you can see and send the bullet through the chest cavity. If it's quartering away, do this in reverse by shooting up through the chest to the far shoulder.

At this year's Texas Truck Rodeo, —the Texas Auto Writers Association named Ram Trucks worthy of delivering true Lone Star State capability. We're proud to announce Ram Trucks roped in some respected awards, including the highly coveted title of Truck of Texas for the 2011 Ram 1500. No small feat in a state that's known for big things—like standards for their trucks.

2011 Ram Outdoorsman: Full-Size Pickup Truck of Texas. From open range to thick backwoods, Ram Outdoorsman has the off-road capability to take you where ordinary trucks can't. Rugged, all-terrain tires, heavy-duty cooling, enhanced lighting and available RamBox storage with Mopar gun and fishing rod holsters making heading into the sticks more fun than ever.

Like the fossilized skeletons of its ancestors displayed in the Smithsonian, a 12-foot alligator can be scary even when it's dead—something that Shooting Illustrated's Adam Heggenstaller learned in person during a gator hunt in Florida. Read More »

200

500

0-5

4,000

25

Number of feet a leopard can leap

$40,000-$100,000

The cost to hunt a lion in any of the classic destinations

30 to 50

Gallons of water consumed daily by an elephant

fast fact

The cackling goose, a smaller-bodied goose prominent in Canada and Alaska, is a tundra-breeder with considerably more black plumage than the Canada. At one time, the cackling goose was considered the smallest subspecies of the Canada, but is now recognized as a separate species.